Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of the text of PM’s address at the ceremony to inaugurate the new premises of Abdul Kalam Technical University & launch development initiatives in Lucknow
My young friends,
Today, I got the opportunity to attend several programs at a time. The way the new Govt. in UP under the leadership of Yogi Ji is working for development in the state, has attracted the attention of every nook and corner of our country. There is a great curiosity in the people towards the Govt. of Yogi Ji, which is taking step after step to rapidly move Uttar Pradesh on the path of development by removing the several years old problems, several years old hurdles by its sheer hard work. I congratulate Yogi Ji and his team and felicitate their efforts for development.
Today, I got the opportunity to spend some time in the Drug Research Institute. Our scientists have been sacrificing their entire lives in laboratory to develop such drugs for mankind that are affordable, cost effective, and able to cure the diseases rapidly and without any side effects. In a way scientists are like modern sages; like a modern sage they have been dedicatedly working to free the mankind from its problems and corporal pain; and they are also working for further refining the traditional methods with the help of modern systems, with the help of modern means.
Today, there are many challenges before mankind, particularly in the field of health sciences. It takes several years and hundreds of scientists sacrifice themselves before a medicine is being developed; however, new diseases emerge before a solution is developed. In a way, it’s a kind of race. However, with the help of science, with the help of innovation we must defeat these problems, we must defeat these diseases and we must overcome these challenges to provide the most affordable and most effective medicines to the poorest.
Today, I have the opportunity to dedicate the building of this Technical University to the public. This university has been named after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. I don’t think there can be a more suitable name in the technical world than that of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for inspiring people. Science is Universal but the Technology Must Be Local. And this is the test for us. Principles of science have been established. Knowledge of science is available, however, at a time when technology is affecting everyone’s life with the help of already available resources, our young generation is expected to bring about such changes, expected to modify the technology, expected to discover new things that will improve the quality of life of common man. We say with pride in the world, that India has the army of Eight Hundred Million youths, this is a country of youths below the age of 35, and it has the wisdom also. Youths of my country are capable of conquering the world if they have skills, if they have innovation of technology and science. However, we cannot grow much with the help of the technology that might have played big role in the last century but may not be useful in the next century. Therefore, the technology must be ahead of its time, it must take in to account the requirements of remote future. And, Indian youths are capable of such things, with the help of them we can scale new heights in the field of technology.
Today, our country is dependent on foreign countries to meet our requirements in the field of defense, for our security we import petty items for our defense forces from abroad. Can’t we make our country self reliant in the defense sector very soon? Why can’t we develop new technology, new equipments that are required for our country’s security? We are moving forward in the direction of making India self reliant in the field of security and we have brought about several policy changes for this purpose. We have opened defense sector for 100% Foreign Direct Investment. We have persuaded Indian businessmen to go in for joint ventures. We have prepared a list of those products that Government of India imports from abroad and we will provide special encouragement if we get those products through indigenous manufacturing. And all these opportunities are for the young generation that is associated with technological field.
Similarly, there is another field. Today, in a way, medical science is a technology driven field. Today, a doctor doesn’t determine the ailments afflicting you; a machine diagnoses what ailment is afflicting your body. What is the ailment, which part of your body is affected; these things are diagnosed by a machine. And then a doctor, on the basis of the report prepared by that machine, prepares a roadmap for you, decides medicine, takes a decision that whether there is a need for a operation or not. However, India is a big country, having such a big requirement for these medical equipments and their manufacturing, that our students in the field of technology should think to launch a start up, to do research in that field, so that we may go in a new direction with a new vision to meet the requirement of those equipment indigenously.
The whole concept of our programs, like ‘Make in India’ Start Up India, Stand Up India, Skill India, Mudra Yojana, is developed to provide a new opportunity to technology oriented Indian youths. There may be a requirement for funds, requirement for technological support, or requirement for giving priority to skill development in human resources, we need to adopt a comprehensive approach so that whatever technical knowledge is available in the country, available in the universities, available with our young generation, we must use that in a collective and balanced manner to scale new heights for the country. And this country has proved it that whenever Indian youths have got the opportunity they have overcome the challenges and set new benchmarks.
Several leading countries of the world tried to reach Mars. No country in the world could reach the Mars orbit in the first attempt. India is the first country in the world that reached the orbit of Mars in the first attempt. And the world was more surprised when they came to know that India’s young scientist could achieve this thing in such a low budget. If you are required to take a taxi or take an auto rickshaw in Lucknow then you must be paying Rs. 10 per kilo meter. However, we reached Mars by spending just seven rupees per km. And the total budget of our Marsh Mission was less than that of a Hollywood film; our scientists reached Mars by spending less than the budget of Hollywood film. Our youth is capable of such feats; this is the strength of our talented youth, of our technicians and of our scientists. The whole world was surprised when we recently launched 104 satellites in one go, they were surprised that our scientists are capable of launching 104 satellites in one go.
We must move forward with this strength and in this context, how this Technical University and all the colleges associated with it, can move forward? I am aware about how difficult it is to work in the field of education in Uttar Pradesh. Our governor, Shri Ram Naik Ji, as a Chancellor, used to burn midnight oil to bring discipline in the universities, to complete the tasks in a time bound manner. He has been successful in conducting exams, organizing convocations in a time bound manner in 24 universities of the total 28 universities. This discipline is very important. However, Ram Naik Ji is used to work in a very focused manner, once he accepts a task, he completes it and that is why he has meticulously been moving forward to ensure compliance of rules, regulations and conventions in the universities of Uttar Pradesh so that the time of students is not wasted. His work has become easier, he is moving forward with lot of ease after Yogi Government came to power in UP.
Today, I’m happy to note that some families have been issued certificates under the Prime Minister Housing Scheme . India will celebrate 75 years of its independence in 2022. Indian freedom fighters had some dreams; they wanted to see a happy and prosperous India when they sacrificed their youth in prisons, when they attained martyrdom. They wanted to see an independent India. They sacrificed everything for this. Is it not the responsibility of 1.25 billion citizens of this country to scale new heights for our country to fulfill the dreams of our freedom fighters? Can’t the 1.25 billion Indians collectively take this country forward? I’m confident that 1.25 billions of capable of taking this country to new heights. We have a dream of providing a house to every family, a house that has a toilet, water supply, electricity connection, and arrangements to provide education to its kids nearby, when we complete 75 years of its independence in 2022; and we should launch a project throughout the country for rural housing, for urban housing, and today the government has issued certificates to some mothers for providing house to them. And one of the mothers told me that it’s very good that my house will be constructed, I’d conduct marriages of my children and I will invite you in the marriage. She was so enthusiastic. When our dreams turn into reality then we become capable of achieving big things in any age group; I’ve felt that thing in the conversation with that woman. It was her words; however, her feelings were very inspiring.
Today, electric power is very important for development. In the field of technologically oriented life electricity has its own strength. There is a massive project to revolutionize the country with the help of renewable energy, through solar energy. A big project of saving electricity has been ongoing by providing LED bulbs to households. More than 22 crores LED bulbs have been installed within a year and due to them more electricity is being supplied, however, due to the use of LED bulbs, people are able to save around 12-13 thousand crore rupees. This is the saving for a common man. Today, I’m dedicating a 400 KV transmission line to the public. It will help in improving the quality of electricity supply in the entire area in the middle of Lucknow and Kanpur, it will cover the entire Unnav, it will serve the industrial area, it will provide electricity to households. I’ve heard that there used to be a VIP quota in your state in case of electricity supply. Some districts were considered VVIPs and electricity supply was different for them and in some other districts it was different, I congratulate Yogi Ji, I offer my respect to him that he has ensured no discrimination in supplying electricity to all the 75 districts. Precisely this is the work of the administration. I know how difficult it is to end the privileges enjoyed by a section. I’m confident that Yogi Ji will be able to do it; he is determined to produce results.
Brothers and sisters, the country is trying to scale new heights of developments. New heights have to be achieved in the every field of life. 1.25 billion people, this is the power of these 1.25 billion people that the entire world has acknowledged that if there was one country among the major economies that had been growing at a rapid pace then it was India. The entire world is looking at India with pride. If we, 1.25 billion Indians, decide collectively, we the citizens of Uttar Pradesh decide collectively, and then you will see the results.
GST will be implemented from July 01. This is a matter of great pride for this country. All the political parties, all the politicians, despite their differences, all the state governments of this country and the central government are going to collectively implement this historic decision that will bring about sea change in the economy of this country from July 01. It’s a big achievement in itself. It’s an achievement of India’s federal structure. It’s an achievement of the maturity of India’s political parties. Every political party has proven it that the country is above party politics. I’m grateful to all the political parties, to all the state governments, to all the assemblies and also grateful to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. All have come together to successfully implement the GST. Today, I’m confident that, with the help of citizens, especially with the help of small traders, we would successfully implement GST and it will surprise the world that how such a massive country can transform itself. The power of Indian democracy will be acknowledged by the world that all the political parties of this country, political parties with different ideology are collectively able to take such big decisions; this is going to surprise the world. This is the power of Indian democracy, the power of maturity of India’s democracy. It became possible due to the maturity of the leadership of political parties of India’s democracy. And therefore the credit for this achievement doesn’t belong to Modi or to a single government alone. The credit belongs to 1.25 billion Indians, it belongs to the mature democracy of India, the credit goes to all the political parties, all the assemblies of the country and to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
When such a mammoth task has been accomplished, then we must understand that if there are difficulties then the government has made all the arrangements to deal with them. All the efforts will be made to remove these difficulties, however, the people of this country, particularly the business community should come forward, should take the responsibility by moving ahead in order to make it a successful and smooth transition; I’m confident that the trading community would play the leading role in the country in this transition.
With this expectation, I convey my heartfelt good wishes to all the students of this campus, to all the youths associated with this campus, I pray for your success.
Thank you.